Why is the verb coming after 'left to' used as present perfect tense(have studied and partied)? Can't I just use present tense like "study and party"?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
Great question! I believe she uses the present perfect tense to indicate that she wants to party before she graduates from high school, instead of studying all of the time. As you may already know, the present perfect tense stresses continuation from the past into the present. In this instance, she is referring to the beginning of her high school career until that evening. To answer your second question, yes you could use study and party instead. However, you will have to change the structure of the sentence. The sentence may have to be "Amy, we have only one night left to study and party in high school." Although this sentence does work, it changes the meaning of the sentence. It no longer indicates a timeline of whether she partied and studied during her high school career as the present perfect tense does. Thank you so much for your question!
